


Isse

by TheRed111



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fake Marriage, Fluff, Human/Monster Relationships, Kitsune, Kitsune boyfriend, Monster Boyfriend, SO MUCH FLUFF, Sex, Sexual Content, Teratophilia, Xenophilia, foxboi, he's technically a furry now that I think about it, maybe actual marriage idk, reader self insert - Freeform, the name of the file is actually foxboi.txt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:42:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27676202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRed111/pseuds/TheRed111
Summary: You meet a spirit who seems keen on marrying you. You're having a very hard time saying no.
Relationships: Female reader/ male original character
Comments: 8
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

As a college student, you were always surrounded by people. Your campus was one of the most populated in the country; it was more like a small town than a college, really. Your days were spent going from group to group; classes, study groups, group projects, groups upon groups upon groups. Even when you went back to your dorm your (groups, heh) of roommates were always around you. You didn’t mind, you liked having people around, but still.

Sometimes you just had to get away from it all.

There was a little town tucked into the woods not far from your college. It was the kind of place that had a giant moose statue in the town square and sold overpriced t-shirts with prints of bass on them, but you found yourself loving it in a non-ironic sense anyways. The people were nice, even to a wide-eyed college student like you, the coffee was strong and cheap, the buzz of the town pleasant.

But really you came for the quiet. When you walked into the woods, once the sounds of humanity faded away, it was like you had stepped into another world. The woods were like something out of a fairy tale. When you walked down one of the trails, you half-expected to find a fairy peeking out from behind one of the majestic, towering trees, or maybe find a unicorn resting in the carpet of green moss that blanketed the forest floor.

You hadn’t found any of that, so far. You’ve found a lot of litter (which you cleaned up, cursing the lazy assholes who couldn’t walk 10 feet to a trash can) and a lot of squirrels, but that’s about it. Either way, though, it’s a nice walk, and it’s even nicer to be back in nature, even if it’s just for a little while.

You’re on one of your walks when you find something that’s not litter or a squirrel. You’re going about your business, listening to some music on your phone, when you see something orange out of the corner of your eye. You thought it was another piece of litter at first, but when you got closer-

The limp body of a fox lay at the bottom of a tree. For a second you thought it was dead, but as you approached it raised it’s head to look at you.

You step back, giving it space to run away but it doesn’t. It just stays where it is, looking straight at you. Sometimes tourists feed animals and they end up not fearing people as a result (the squirrels are a prime example of this), but you see that is not the case immediately.

Its back leg is caught in a snare. Your heart sinks, all of a sudden filled with hatred and contempt for your fellow man. This area was a protected reserve, no one was supposed to be hunting here! The poor little fox gives a weak-sounding whimper, body shuddering as its chest heaves up and down.

You look around, trying to see if there’s anyone around, like a ranger or something. There’s no one, of course, you chose this trail because there’s hardly any people on it. You can’t just run back to the ranger’s station, either, that would take hours, and what if the people who set the snare found the fox while you were out?  
You make up your mind immediately. 

“Hey little guy. I’m not gonna hurt you.” You bend down slowly, watching the fox carefully as you do. It doesn’t bare its teeth or hiss or anything, it’s just watching you, eyes narrowed. 

“Okay. Just relax.” It’s hard to tell from where you are, but the trap looks like a wire wrapped around the fox’s leg. You could probably undo the knot around it if you picked at it a little, but the fox probably won’t let you get that close to him.

The fox’s mouth is open. It’s panting heavily. You remember the canteen of water bouncing on your hip.

“You want something to drink?”

You slowly pour some water into the cap of the canteen and set it by the fox’s mouth. It doesn’t snap at your hand, thankfully, instead drinking the water you offered. Its gaze fixes on you when it’s done, head cocked to the side.

Heh. No wonder people say foxes are smart. “Alright, I’ll pour you some more.”

You give the fox a few more caps of water before it seems satisfied. It looks at its leg again, then at you. Its eyes narrow again. You shouldn’t be assigning emotions to an animal, especially a wild one, but it sure does feel like it’s asking you to help it.

“I need to undo the snare on your leg. And I need you to not bite me, okay?” Do foxes carry rabies? You’re pretty sure they do…

The fox blinks slowly. It looks at its leg again.

You slowly, carefully move your hands towards the fox. Its ears flutter forward for some reason and you pull them back immediately. You feel kind of stupid when the fox continues to just… sit there.

You touch the wire. All the fox does is extend its leg, giving you a better view of the wire. You wish the person who made the snare a lifetime of stepping on legos.

“Okay, I really hope this doesn’t hurt you.”

You figure the fox must be really tired or weak to let you touch it like this. Most animals, you know, turn violent when they’re hurt or scared. You wonder how long the poor fox has been like this, frightened and alone with a strange thing around its leg hurting it so much…

You try to be as gentle as you can as you undo the snare. The loop of the wire is embedded deep inside the flesh of the fox’s leg, and you have to push and prod more than you like, but finally you manage to make it loose enough for the fox to slip its leg through. You immediately step back, expecting the fox to bolt away as soon as it was free.

It stands up, gingerly putting weight on its leg. It shakes itself, stretches and…

Walks… towards you?

You walk away from the fox. It walks towards you.

“...uh…”

The fox speeds up when you speed up, and you yelp when you feel it brushing against your leg.

“H-Hey!” You decide now would be a good time to sprint down the trail, because why is this wild animal following you, and for a second it sits there.

It looks up at you, cocks its head to the side, and keeps pace with you.

“Are you following me? Really?”

No matter where you go or how fast, the fox follows. It doesn’t yelp or hiss or do anything you think a fox should. It’s just at your side, staring straight ahead, walking with you like you’re out walking your dog or something.

“Oh my God.” You mutter. 

When you look down at the fox, it’s eyes are narrowed and its mouth is lolling open. For a second you think it looks like it’s laughing.

Great. 

After some unsuccessful attempts to shake the fox, you give up. If it wants to follow you, it can. Not that you mind, necessarily, in fact the part of you that looks for fairies is thrilled to have a mysterious, adorable fox companion keeping you company on your walk. The rational part, however, is really wondering if it had rabies, maybe.

“Okay buddy. You can follow me, I guess. You win.”

The fox brushes its tail against the back of your leg. Must be a coincidence.

The both of you walk deeper into the quiet, moss-carpeted woods. You swear you catch the fox grinning at you out of the corner of your eye.

* * *

You expected the fox to vanish as soon as you ran into other people, and you were right. You were pretty sad to see it go, but it wasn’t like it was going to stay around forever. 

You kind of wished you had taken a picture of it or something, but in retrospect waving something strange and weird in front of it probably would have made it run away. It was just going to be one of those strange, cool things that happened that no one would ever believe if you told them. 

The hustle and bustle of college life took over, and you forgot about the fox. Until, at least, you decided to take another trip to the woods, and the first thing you saw when you went to a less-crowded trail-

“What?”

Sitting on its haunches, as if it was waiting for you, was the fox. You had to take a look around, to see if you were getting punked or something, but nothing happened. The fox just sauntered over to you, wrapping its body around your leg without a care in the world.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” 

The fox gave a quick twitch of its ears, and a wide, toothy smirk… no, foxes didn’t smirk what the fuck was wrong with you?

Was this someone’s pet that had gotten dumped or something? You’ve heard of people owning foxes as pets before, but if that was the case why was it still here? It had been days since you’d been here last, and someone should have noticed this weirdass fox by now. It was like it had been waiting for you or something-

No. Foxes don’t wait for people. They were just foxes. This was a weird fox but it was still just an animal. You must be in its territory or something and it likes you because you helped it and now it wants food-

The fox gave a soft, chirping sound. Its little body was right on top of your foot, and you couldn’t move without having it tumble off of you.

“Okay. Nice to see you too.” You grumble. “You gonna get off my foot now?”

Another soft chirp. When you shook your food to try to nudge it off, the fox just wrapped around your leg tighter. Guess that was a no.

“Do you want me to pet you? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, buddy.” 

The fox looked up at you and smirked again. It also wagged its tail like a happy dog and God it was so fucking cute you could have died.

“You’re gonna bite me. I know your game. I’m not in the mood to get rabies shots today, okay?”

The fox isn’t moved by your pleading, it just rubs its head against your leg and does the chirping noise again. Your resolve is crumbling like wet cardboard. You know you shouldn’t but your fox friend is so cute and so fluffy and arghhhh okay fine maybe just one pet.

The fox’s smug-looking expression as you bend down is so human you have to laugh. You reach your hand out first, letting it give you a quick sniff before you touch it. Its tail brushes against the back of your leg again.

“Just one, okay?” You press your hand to the fox’s back as gently as you can manage. It doesn’t start or snap at you, it just makes a noise that sounds a lot like a purr. Its fur is so soft beneath your fingers, and its little back arches up as your hand runs down its spine. The moment you hear its adorable chirps your heart explodes from sheer cuteness overload.

“Oh my God, you’re so fucking cute.” You know you said just one, but you can’t help yourself. You scritch the spot at the base of its tail that you know dogs like and one its legs starts thumping on the ground and oh fuck you’re in heaven. When it rolls over on its back, you can’t help but make a completely undignified squeal. The fox smirks again, tongue lolling out as you give its impossibly soft belly a thorough rub.

Well… not it, you guess. Now that you can see its belly, it's obvious this fox is a male. 

“Heh. Guess you like me, huh? Wanna be my boyfriend?” You barely restrain yourself from picking him up and giving his fat little cheeks a good smooching. 

The fox gives a loud chirp in reply. The urge to smooch somehow grows larger.

“I’ll take that as a yes, little guy.” 

One second your hand is wrapped in fox fur, the second-

Nothing. 

You stare blankly at the spot where, just a second ago, the fox had been. When you blink, the fox still isn’t there. 

“Wha…?” 

Before your poor brain has time to even begin thinking about what the fuck just happened, you hear something moving in the brush behind you. It’s not coming from the trail, and it sounds too big and too heavy to be a little fox-

You jump to your feet, heart pounding. Instead of a hungry bear, though, or an angry moose, there’s a person. 

The first thing you notice is his clothes. The soft, flowing robes he’s wearing don’t look like they should be anywhere near a hiking trail. They look like something out of an old painting, or maybe at a Renaissance Fair. You assume he's gotta be some kind of LARPer, especially when you see the fox ears sticking out of his head. The second thing you notice, with no small amount of embarrassment, is that he’s incredibly good looking. He’s like a fucking fashion model, he’s got the pouty lips, the high cheekbones, the sharp jawline, the impossibly clear skin. 

“Uh... “ You get to your feet immediately. You must look like a fucking lunatic, crouched down staring intently at the ground. Then again, this dude is rocking not only fox ears but a fox tail in public, and anyone with that level of confidence probably doesn’t concern themselves with lesser mortals like you.

His ears flicker forward. You have a second to wonder if they’re animatronic or something-

“I accept your offer.” His grin is wide and bright, almost as bright as the light in his eyes when they crinkle at the sides.

Shit. He must have heard you talking to the fox. You aren’t sure whether you want to yell at him for being a creep or collapse into a pile of limp jelly, because holy hell he is smoking hot-

You settle for somewhere in the middle, which is giving him the most venomous look you can muster. His grin only grew wider.  “You don’t recognize me? We were only talking just a moment ago too. Ah, you wound me so.”

You have never seen this man before in your life. You would remember a face like his, with his delicate, pointed nose and his long eyelashes and his what the fuck are you doing-

You find enough of your nerve to talk to him. Sternly. Because you are mad and definitely not ogling him.

“I’ve never seen you before in my life.” 

His tail… wags? Was that animatronic too? 

“Oh dear.” He sighs in an overdramatic fashion, giving his head a shake or two for good measure. His pout makes you want to cry, it’s so fucking cute and… fuck! Stop being weird! He isn’t cute! He’s a creep! He's been watching you creepily and shit for God knows how long! 

“Hmmm. Let me see… the last time you were here you found a fox in the woods, didn’t you? Trapped so cruelly by a snare, poor thing. You released it and it followed you.”

Your heart forgets to stop beating. How the hell did he know that? You haven’t told a single person about your encounter with the fox! Was it his fox or was he watching it the whole time and-

Wait. The fox ears. The fox tail. The bright eyes and the smirk.

No. It couldn’t be. That was impossible. You lived in the real world, you went to real school and had real friends. The world was beginning to spin around you. You slowly sank to the forest floor, your hands trembling-

Something cold touches your hand. The man is gone.  Your fox sits in front of you, its nose pressed against your fist. Its eyes are bright.  _ His _ eyes.

You must have passed out for a second, because the next thing you knew the man was sitting in front of you where the fox was. He seemed totally unconcerned about your brain dissolving into a useless pile of mush.

“Thank you for freeing me, by the way. I might have died if you hadn’t come along.” His voice is too chipper and too happy and oh sweet God he can turn into a fox what the actual fuck-

“I still have the scar on my leg, by the way. Would you like to see?”

You nod. You aren’t capable of doing anything else.

Sure enough, when he stretches his leg, you see a puckered pink scar looping around his ankle.

“...oh.” You whisper weakly.

You don’t believe it. You can’t believe it. It’s not possible, not in this shitty, real world. Yet it’s here and in front of you and talking to you all the same.  You inhale once. Then twice. Your hands are shaking when you rub them together.

“Ah. My apologies. I forgot, your kind aren’t used to seeing us anymore, aren’t you?” The man… no, the  _ fox’s _ face falls. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”  He doesn’t seem like he wants to hurt you. He seems… nice, if his behavior in his fox-form was anything to go by. 

“It’s… it’s okay.”

Now that the shock was wearing off, a strange sense of calm was taking its place. Now that you had seen proof such things were possible, it was very easy to accept. Still, when you looked at him you couldn’t help but ogle how his ears moved, or the movements of his ridiculously fluffy tail.

“I suppose you must be wondering what I am, then.” He leans towards you, head cocked to the side ever so slightly. Now that you’re closer, you can see how his eyes are the exact same golden yellow as those of a fox. His hair is the same color as his fur in his fox-form, and it's just as fluffy too. You have to shove back the sudden urge to run your fingers through it.

“Yeah. Are you a shapeshifter or something?”

His lip quirks upwards. “I can change my form, yes, but I’m more of what your kind would call a spirit.”

Spirit. You’ve heard stories of fox-spirits who can take human form before. They were supposed to be tricksters, devious, even. Sometimes they would even marry humans, though in those stories they took the forms of women…

“Like a kitsune?”

He smiles, and you see canines too long to belong to a human. “That’s one name for us.”  The confirmation that he’s something you’re familiar with makes it that much easier to believe. Whatever doubts you had that this was some kind of trick dissolve into nothingness.

“...okay.” You say, after a quick shuddering breath. “...is there something I can call you?”

If old legends and myths are true (and you are suddenly more inclined to believe that they are) it was rude to ask a spirit for its name. To know the name of something was to hold great power over it. You wonder if maybe telling him your name would be a good idea, actually….

“Hm. The last I’ve used was Isse. That was a very long time ago, though.” The fox-spirit ruffles a hand through his hair. “I am willing to take suggestions.”

You shake your head. “Isse it is, then.” You wait for him to ask yours, but he doesn’t. He instead bows his head to yours. After a moment’s hesitation you return the favor. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Isse’s ears twitch forward. The smug expression on his face is so painfully close to the one on his fox-form that it makes your heart sputter. “Now… I suppose this is a bit sudden, but would you be interested in being my bride?”

Your mouth gapes open. You stare at him, waiting for the punchline. There is none. You realize he is deadly serious.

“B-Bride?” You managed to spit out. “W-Wha-”

Another twitch of his ears. “Not right now, of course. But it has been a very, very long time since I have been in your world. Much has changed since I was last here, and I wish to see it all for myself. It is… easier for me to do so if I am wed to someone in your world.”

Okay. So he isn’t some crazy stalker trying to get into your pants or something. It should be a relief, but you can;t deny feeling a little disappointed, too.

“It used to not be like this. Our worlds were much closer once. Now it is difficult to travel here, more difficult, even to draw close to where your kind gathers.” He sighs, ruffling his hair again and you can feel the blood rushing to your cheeks. Why does that have to be so fucking cute-

“So… this marriage. How would it work?” You can’t believe you’re asking this, you aren’t even close to being ready to get married to a human, much less a fox-spirit, but….

The part of you that looks for fairies is screaming at you to say yes.

For a second his eyes go wide, like he wasn’t expecting that response out of you. “W-Well…” He makes a noise like… was that a  _ chirp?  _ “It’s more a spiritual bond than anything. Our souls would be linked together, allowing mine to be able to find yours more easily. All we have to do is exchange vows and an object, a ring perhaps. It would not interfere with any similar vows you may make in this world.”

That sounds… easy. Too easy.

“Is there anything else? Any uh... “ You trail off, your traitorous eyes traveling down the incline of his neck to the sharp angle of his collarbone. “Any other responsibilities?”

His ears flicker forward. “Oh no. We wouldn’t have to consummate the marriage if you don’t want to. Although….” It’s not your imagination, he _ definitely _ chirped this time. “I would be more than willing to.”

Your brain short circuits. You must have looked like a beached, gasping fish because his grin widened and holy shit he looked like he was going to laugh at you and that made your face burn even more.

“O-Oh.”

“Anyway, I understand this all must be a lot to take in.” He stands up, offering you a hand. You take it and pull yourself to your hand. His skin is even softer than it looks. He gives your hand a quick squeeze before he pulls it away. “Take all of the time you need, but…”

“But?”

Isse’s ears fold back. “I can’t stay for much longer. I have a week here, at most. If you don’t come back by then, I will return to the spirit world, and I will not be able to return for some time.”

A frown darkens his delicate features. Even when he’s sad he looks hot and stop brain stop what the fuck are you doing-

“Of course, I will give you something in return. I shall grant you one wish, whatever is in my power to give.” He smiles, his voice… deeper. “My power, I am told, is quite vast. I haven’t found a wish I haven’t been able to grant yet.”

It all seems too good to be true. There had to be some kind of catch, something that would bite you in the ass later. Stories about spirits offering people deals never, ever turned out well for the people in the end. You knew you had to say no. It was too dangerous, too crazy to even think of marrying someone you just met today, spiritual or otherwise. You couldn’t, even if...

Even if you really, really wanted to.

“Isse…” You began. “I… I’m flattered, I really am, but… I don’t even know you. I mean… this sounds like a big thing, and…”

You expect him to be disappointed. You can’t look him in the eye, so you settle for the ground. It’s the right thing to do, but…

You look up. He’s smiling, looking none for worse for the wear from your rejection. 

“Would you be amenable to a more temporary arraignment? If I only stay with you for a week, would that be better? I could stay in my fox form if that would make you more comfortable.”

Temporary. Fox friend. No marriage. Yeah, there was no wish he could grant you, probably, but you didn’t really want anything that much anyways. Well, nothing that could possibly be worth the price of your soul or anything like that.

“I… well, if it’s just a week then… sure.”

Isse’s tail starts wagging so fast you could barely see it and your poor heart just couldn’t take it. 

“Really? Ah, I am honored.”

One second he is there, the next a small fox darts around your feet. He looks up at you and smiles, his gold eyes scrunched up in amusement.

“Well then.” You sigh, still quite not believing what you’ve gotten yourself into. “I guess… we should get going then.”

Isse follows your lead, never straying from your side…


	2. Chapter 2

“And this is?” Isse points at your coffee machine. His eyes are so wide you swear they’re going to fall out, and you can’t help but laugh.

“I use this to make coffee, Isse.” He looks at you desperately, eyes scrunched up at the corners. “It’s… well, maybe I should make some for you.”

Isse wasn’t lying when he said it was a long time since he had come to Earth. He seemed overwhelmed and confused at every little thing around you; your phone, the cars on the street, random noises from passerby. The chaos and noise of your college campus had left him so frightened and scared in his little fox body that you couldn’t resist scooping him up in your airs and carrying him to your dorm. You tried to remember that he was a person, not a really cute fluffy fox, but fuck it you gave him a few soft pets. It was to calm him down, right? It seemed to work too, if the way his body stopped shivering was any indication.

No one else seemed to notice he was there, whether he was a human or a fox. A good thing, you supposed, considering how having unannounced guests of both the human and animal variety would be super breaking all of the terms of your lease, but it was still kind of weird. At least your roommates were at class right now and couldn’t judge you for making long impassioned speeches to your coffee machine.

“Coffee…” Isse stared at the coffee machine as you set about making him a cup. His gaze was so intense you were expecting Mr Coffee to burst into flames at any moment. You bit back a laugh.

“Yeah. It’s like tea, kind of. It’s a lot stronger, and way more bitter. You can put milk and cream in it to cut down the taste, if you want.”

Isse couldn’t talk in his fox-form, the best he could do was kind of chirp at you, so if you had something to say to each other he changed into his human form. You definitely weren’t expecting to have a painfully attractive stranger in your kitchen when you woke up this morning, and you definitely weren’t shooting glances at him out of the corner of your eye when you thought he wasn’t looking.

It wasn’t your fault he was so cute! Most men you knew wouldn’t be caught dead looking at their girlfriends with such wide-eyed adoration, much less your freaking Mr Coffee. All of the things around you that you took for granted to Isse were miracles he had never imagined possible. His fear had ebbed away the more familiar he had gotten with everything, replaced with innocent curiosity. He had seemed particularly excited when you told him you were going to a place of learning, where people from all over the world gathered to gain knowledge in their chosen fields. He had practically begged for you to take him to your classes and God help you if his eyes didn’t look as wide and adorable as they did when he was a fox...

“How does it work?” He asked for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. His ears twitched forward with every noise of the coffee grinder. Also, for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, you put the question into your phone.

“Well, you put the beans in the little opening, then it grinds them, then it strains the beans through heated water, and the resulting mixture gets placed in your waiting mug.” You point to your own mug, sadly empty at the moment. “Different beans give different flavors, it depends on where they come from and what kind of climate they’re grown in.”

Isse gives you a quick grin. Your traitorous heart melts immediately. 

“Every time I ask you something, you consult that… square thing-”

“Phone.” You correct him.

“Phone.” Another smile. Another clenching of your heart. “Yes, that. When I last visited your world, men would wander for lifetimes to gain a fraction of the knowledge that thing holds. They would even visit us sometimes to find the answers they were seeking.”

His gaze returns to the Mr Coffee. If the backwards tilt of his ears are anything to go by, he’s feeling a little down right now. 

Your heart sinks a little. It must be hard to be in a place so strange and unfamiliar. Human life was confusing enough when you happened to be a human, to Isse it was probably a chaotic mess of metal and wire and electricity. 

“What did they ask you?” You move a little closer next to him, his ears perking up ever so slightly when he hears you get closer. “It wasn’t about how to make coffee, I’m pretty sure.”

His smirk is a warm hand running down your spine. “If there was such a thing as coffee when I was last here, they would have asked me how to make it.” His head tilts ever so slightly, a motion that reminds you of dogs when they’re staring intently at something. “We were asked the big questions, of course; does she love me, can I avoid death, will I be able to have children, all of those things. Sometimes people asked us little things too. There was an old man I used to know, he was always so worried about how to make the perfect cup of tea. I always told him that the perfect cup of tea was the one in your hands, but he never listened to me. I always wonder if he ever managed to find it. I hope he did...”

Mr Coffee beeps. You barely notice.

You kind of forgot Isse was a spirit. He’s old, older than you can maybe imagine. What kind of things has he seen? What must the world look through his eyes? What kind of people has he met, what stories does he have?  
What does he think of you, you wonder, this girl who must seem like a child to him…

You cough, delicately pulling your coffee mug onto the table. It smells about as good as your generic-brand coffee beans can. If you knew you were going to have a handsome fox spirit visiting you, you would have splurged on the good stuff, but alas.

“Ah. Sorry. I talk too much.” He looks… shy as he ducks his head down. “It’s a bad habit of mine, I’m afraid.”

“It’s not a bad habit at all!” You smile as you offer him the coffee cup. “It’s a bit hot, you might wanna-”

He takes the cup out of your hands and downs the entire mug before you can as much as blink. You wait for him to scream or something because he just  _ chugged a steaming hot cup of coffee holy fuck _ but he doesn’t as much as flinch.

“Ah!” Both his ears and his tail are wiggling. “I like it!”

“Uh, Isse, are you okay?” 

He sets the empty, still steaming mug on the table. He has that adorable little pout, and despite yourself your heart melts again. “Yes? Am I not supposed to be?”

Your mouth is open, ready to say… something, but you think better of it. “It’s fine.” You finally say. “I’m glad you like the coffee, though!”

He leans forward, a satisfied smirk on his face. “You said that different places make beans that have different tastes, right? Do you happen to know where these are from?”

You sigh in a way you hope he picks up is just gentle teasing and reach for the package. 

All of the things you were supposed to do just slip away. You’re still talking to Isse when your roommates finally come back. They call you weird for talking to your Mr Coffee like a lunatic, but you don’t really care.

Isse seems curious about them. He asks why they’re studying here, where they’re from, what they’ve been doing all day. You answer, but with a churning, twisting feeling in your gut. You chide yourself for acting so immature. You’ve only known this guy for a day, calm down! It’s not like you’re spirit-married to him or anything!

When you go to your room, Isse becomes very quiet. He seems entranced by all of the things you have around you. He is particularly interested in the photos you have on the walls, he asks a lot of questions about the people in them and how you know them. 

He asks so many questions, but you really don’t mind answering them. He listens to you so intently, drinking in every single word like they’re the most important things in the world to him. You have to keep telling yourself that they really aren’t, that you’re just imagining things…

“You must be lonely here.” He remarks, giving your pictures a long, solemn glance. “Without them here with you.”

You can’t help but feel just that as your eyes sweep over all of the happy, smiling faces of the people close to you. You’re so far away from them, and thinking about them does make you a little sad sometimes…

“I do miss them.” You admit, plopping down on your bed. “But I have friends here too. Besides, when I come home to see them, they’ll all still be waiting for me.”

His ears tilt back. He’s quiet for a long time. “That… must be nice.” He finally answers.

It occurs to you then that maybe there’s another reason why Isse is here with you right now. You had thought that maybe he was some kind of inter-dimensional tourist, but hearing the sadness in his voice, the longing, you  _ know  _ that there’s another reason he’s here.

“...I’m sorry.” You whisper. 

The bed shakes as Isse sits down next to you. Despite yourself, your heart skips a beat.

“What for?” He chirps. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

You look away, eyes fixed on the wall above your bed. “You just… sounded so sad.”

Isse is quiet for a little bit, and when you dare to peek at him out of the corner of your eye, he isn’t looking at you. He’s just staring into space, hands limp in his lap. When he notices you staring, however, his face lights up in a soft but beautiful smile.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about.” He says as you immediately turn away, cheeks burning so hot you can practically feel the flames. “But…”

You almost think he isn’t going to finish that sentence-

“I appreciate that you do.”

You don’t know what to say. It shouldn’t make you so happy that he said that, but it did. You’ve only known this person for a day, you weakly remind yourself again, acting like this is stupid, it’s  _ dangerous _ …

“T-Thank you.” You spit out. You don’t know what else to say, even though you think you should, and the flames consuming your face grow hotter and hotter with every painful second of silence-

“Ah. Perhaps we should discuss sleeping arrangements.” Isse gets up from your bed in a motion more graceful than it had any right to be. 

“D-Do spirits even need to sleep?” You reply, both grateful and disappointed for the change of subject. 

Isse shrugs. “We don’t have to, but it’s relaxing for us. It helps us to clear our heads, and to be quite honest, after today I need the rest.”

You really can’t blame him. You might need to sleep for a week after today. Or a month, or maybe a year. 

“Normally I wouldn’t want to impose, but… if I stray too far away from you I don’t think I’ll be able to find you again. If you wish for me to leave I will, of course, I don’t want to make you think you  _ have _ to put up with me for a week, of course. If that’s the case then I’d be more than happy to-”

You cut him off with a quick wave of your hand. He freezes in place, his tail all puffed up like a frightened cat and God help you, you just want to pull him into your lap and cuddle him. Not when he’s human though, when he’s a fox. Pulling human Isse into your lap is bad idea and one you are definitely not considering at all-

“Isse.” You take a quick breath. “You can stay here, just… not in my room, if that’s okay.”

His tail immediately deflates. “R-Really?”

He sounds so genuinely surprised it sends the butterflies in your stomach into a frenzied tornado. 

“Y-Yeah.” You swallow, cursing your voice for sounding so damn high. “We can go to my classes tomorrow if you want, and I can show you around campus if you’re up for it.”

You honestly can’t believe you’re doing this. The rational thing to do was tell him to leave, right? You had an out and you just… didn’t do it. Then again, you can’t believe you offered to spend so much time with a stranger in the first place. You even thought about spirit-marrying him!

You still are!

“Y-You can sleep on the couch, if you want. I have some extra pillows, and if you need a blanket, I have a few spares too. I-I don’t want you to get cold or anything.”

Isse’s smile was like seeing the sun after a month of rain. No one in your life has ever, ever smiled at you like that.It sparks a wild, frantic desire to pull him into bed with you. 

He said he wouldn’t mind having sex with you. He said he would be happy to-

“That would be lovely, thank you!” Isse’s innocent voice pulls you away from your sinful thoughts and guilt pools in your stomach for even daring to think about him that way. “You treat me so well! I am forever in your debt.”

You mutter something that sounds like a thank you as you pull your spare blankets out of your closet. He gives you a quick good night before he settles in on the couch, and when you close the door you see his fox-form curling up on your blankets.

You try to sleep. You can’t. Your head is so full of questions and they’re like scabs you can’t help but pick at. Who is he, you wonder, and why is he here? Why did he pick you, what other powers did he have, what could he possibly have to gain by marrying you?

The one that you pick at most, and the one that your train of thought always seems to come back to, is why you like him so much despite everything….

* * *

You almost expect Isse to not be there when you wake up. Maybe, you wonder as you shrug on your clothes, the stress of college was too much for you after all, and your mind dealt with it by conjuring a hot fox-spirit that not only was down to fuck, but really liked you for some weird reason. Isse, of course, was no hallucination, and he was curled up on your blankets exactly where you had left him.

He was fast asleep, he didn’t as much as twitch when you went through the noisy process of making your morning coffee. You watch him as you make it, your mind grabbing onto the weak excuse that you’re checking to see if your movements are bothering him at all.

Looking at him, so small and so… peaceful, you almost couldn’t believe that there was a human spirit underneath all of that fur. He looked like any other fox, even though he was decidedly out of place on your worn, threadbare couch.

You thought about leaving him be, but you also thought about his sad, lonely face when he woke up to an empty apartment, and you felt like the world’s biggest asshole for even thinking about doing that. So you made Isse a cup of coffee and gently stroked his back.

“Isse? It’s morning, time to wake up.”

At your touch his body twitches and you pull your hand back immediately but all he does is just stretch and yawn. It’s exactly what dogs do when they wake up, right down to the way he shakes his butt a little.

“Mmm. Already?” Fox-Isse is gone in the blink of an eye, and human-Isse sits next to you, rubbing his eyes like a child would . For someone who said that spirits didn’t need sleep he looks awfully tired.

“Yeah. I made you coffee.” 

The mug is snatched out of your hands. Isse downs it even more quickly than he did yesterday somehow. 

“Ah, thank you!” He chirps, gently pressing the mug back into your outstretched hands. “It’s delicious!”

Yeah, it’s just as freaky the second time he does it. Still, he looks so stinking happy you can’t help but smile with him. 

“Glad you like it.” If he were in his fox form you would be scratching his chin, and even in his human form it’s hard to resist the temptation. “You ready to go to class?”

Isse gives another happy chirp. “Of course! Thank you for taking me!”

It’s not fair! Why is he so adorable in both of his forms goddammit? You hope he doesn’t notice how red you’ve gotten, 

“Y-Yeah. Alright, let’s go, then.”

A little fox sits on your couch, tongue lolling out of his open mouth in an expression of pure, unfiltered happiness. 

Okay. Fine. You give him one scratch on his chin before you go. From the way he huffs as you move to walk out the door, you swear he’s laughing at you…

* * *

Your earliest class of the day is calculus, because of course it is. The campus is always empty at this time of day, just a few unfortunate assholes like you shuffling to their classes, but even so you can’t help but start to worry. It’s only going to get more crowded the later it gets, and although Isse is keeping pace with you well enough, what if you get separated? You aren’t sure if he knows how to get back to your dorm, and it would be almost impossible to find him in such a huge college…

You’re thinking of that problem instead of your calculus lecture. You probably should at least be trying to pay at least a semblance of attention to what your professor is saying, but you’re having a really, really hard time focusing on anything but Isse.

He’s in his fox-form, sitting on your table next to your empty notebook, staring at the professor so intently you would almost think he was a statue or something. You aren’t sure if he understands anything about what the professor is talking about or if he can even read the problems on the projector but he’s so entranced by the lecture it probably doesn’t matter either way.

You picture him in his fox-form with a pair of glasses on his nose, scrawling notes with a pen in his paw and the image is so funny you have to doodle it in the margins of your notebook. When you’re done you poke him and show him. He does that huffing noise again, and yeah, you’re pretty sure he’s laughing when he does that.

Once the lecture’s over he immediately changes into his human form, crouching on the table in exactly the position he had been in his fox-form. He looks so hilariously out of place, just chilling on the table in his nice, flowing robes with his fox ears and tail out for everyone to see. The way no one seems to notice only makes it more absurd. 

“That was… wow!” Isse turns towards you, his eyes wide like he’s just seen God, not your calc professor. “That was incredible!”  
You had no idea it was even possible to get this excited over calculus, but here’s Isse, proving you wrong. 

“Could you understand what she was talking about? Or did you just like the atmosphere?” 

Isse’s eyes narrow. “Of course I understood!” A slow, unmistakably devious smile. “Did you?”

Oh. Shit. You couldn’t even tell him what color your professor’s shirt happened to be, much less what the lecture was about. Still, he didn’t need to know that. 

“You’re really out here saying I can’t understand Calc 1. Thanks, Isse.”

Isse hops off the table, his smile only widening. “Ah, no, I'm not saying that. You just seemed to be a little distracted.”

Whatever retort you were going to say fizzles into nothing in your throat. He had the wrong idea, dammit! You were just worried about him and no that technically isn’t being distracted because you said so goddammit-

“W-We should get going.” You give a weak, wan smile. “We’re going to be late for Humanities.”

For just a second you think his face fell just a little, but the little fox is at your feet before you can really tell for sure. 

The lecture hall is almost empty, but you know it’s going to be a crowd scene outside. There’s elevators, stairs, lots of weird, confusing hallways…

“Okay. From here on out I might have to carry you.” You drop your voice just low enough so that the few stragglers don’t think you’re on drugs or something. “It’s on the other side of campus and I don’t want you to get lost.”

Isse just stares at you, his head cocked to the side. 

“I mean, I know I’ve carried you before, but it would be rude to just pick you up without asking, you know?”

He bumps your ankle with his nose. You suppose that means he’s okay with you carrying him, so that’s what you do. 

Since he’s a spirit you expected him to be weightless or something, but he definitely has heft. You were too busy trying to get him to stop shaking the last time you carried him, so maybe that’s why you didn’t notice that he feels kind of… weird, somehow, being in your arms like this. It’s a strange feeling that you can’t really describe, only that you know there’s something wrong, but you can’t really put your finger on what. It’s not enough to make it uncomfortable or unpleasant to touch him, it’s just something that you can’t help but notice. 

If Isse is having similar feelings, he isn’t showing it. He’s just chilling, watching your fellow students as they go about their day. His head is snapping back and forth from person to person, so fast you almost think it’s going to fly off of him or something. You kind of feel like one of those moms you see at the supermarket with babies strapped to their chests.

You give Isse a little tour of the things you walk by, because why not? He probably doesn’t understand things like fraternities or radio towers or football stadiums but you do your best anyways. He seems to be paying attention to you at any rate, if the way his ears twitch when you talk is any indication. 

The rest of your day goes by in a blur. If it wasn’t for Isse being there, it would have been completely and totally ordinary. You would have just gone through it without as much as a second thought.

With him you kind of… enjoyed yourself a lot more. Maybe it was because you had someone with you who had no idea about the human world, but having someone to share all of the wonderful things around you? It was nice, and you would be lying if you said that you didn’t enjoy his company...

Your roommates were there when you got back. They had their friends with them, and you weren’t really in the mood to hang with them like you usually would have. You made up some excuse about having a lot of homework and ducked into your room. As soon as the door closed though-

“I-Isse!” 

Instead of the adorable little fox you had in your arms a second ago, you now had a very human Isse. He did that huffing laugh of his, then pulled away quickly.

“Ah, sorry.” He said in a tone that suggested he was one-hundred percent not sorry. 

You were incapable of doing anything but giving him a half-hearted glare. You could still almost feel his body in your arms, still feel the sudden heat and the pressure and the strange sense of wrongness that wasn’t unpleasant.

“I can barely believe this place.” Isse’s voice drops, almost reverent as he looks around your cramped dorm room. “So much knowledge, so many wonders, so many people. Where I come from, this place would be but a dream. No… not even a dream.”

It hits you then, as you look at him, that you realize you hardly know anything about him. He knows a lot of things about you, you’ve practically taken him on a tour of your daily life, but he’s still practically a stranger to you. 

You don’t have to know anything. He’ll be gone a week, after all. It might be easier if you don’t. 

Then again, though, when is the next time you’re going to be able to know anything about the other world that he comes from? About spirits and magic and all of those things you stopped believing in until you met him? It’s for that reason (and that reason alone you tell yourself) that you feel compelled to ask.

“Really? What’s the place you’re from like?”

He stares at you for a second, his expression unreadable. For just a second you think asking him was maybe a bad idea-

“Ah, it’s… quite boring compared to your world, actually.” Isse huffs again, arms crossed in front of him. “We spirits tend to be very set in our ways. We know everything about our world and have everything we could ever want, so what’s the point of trying to find out anything else? I mean, I understand why they think the way they do, and I don’t blame them for it, it’s just… frustrating, really.” He blinks slowly, ears flicking forward as he opens his eyes. “Sorry. As you can no doubt tell it’s a bit of a sore spot.”

You sit down on your bed, and after a moment’s hesitation you gesture him to join you. 

“Well.” You say after he’s settled. “I don’t know anything about your world, just like you didn’t know anything about mine.” You can’t resist giving him a cheeky grin. “I’d like to hear about it, if you don’t mind.”

Isse flashes a brillant, heartstopping smile. “We might be here awhile. Are you sure you don’t want to talk to your friends out there first?”

You shake your head. “No. They’ll be fine without me for a day. Besides, I do have a lot of homework I have to do…”  
Isse’s eyes crinkle at the sides as he huffs again. “Ah, such a tragedy. Perhaps I can lighten your burdens with a tale or two.”

You settle in and listen…


	3. Chapter 3

It’s weird, but you’ve never really thought of Isse as a spirit. Yes, you know that’s what he is, he can turn into a fox at will and other people can’t see him, for God’s sake, but you haven’t really understood what that really means. Maybe it’s because of how normal he looks in his human form, fox ears and tail notwithstanding, but you can’t help but think of him as you would any other person you know.

When he begins speaking, his voice changes. It’s not human anymore, though not in a way you can easily say what the differences are. Like a rabbit looking into the eyes of a wolf you are transfixed, utterly frozen in place by the sound of his voice. It’s somehow limitless, you can almost feel them stretching across time and space to the place where he came from, and you wonder if the people there can hear his words too.

He speaks of a faraway place, frozen in time, where all that will be and has ever been is known to its inhabitants. They are capable of things your kind can only dream of, deeds that earned them the titles of God and Demon when they chanced to touch your world. He spoke of how they once amused themselves by toying with humanity, delighting in how these feeble creatures danced like puppets for their amusement, worshipping them for things that came as easily to his kind as breathing.

He also spoke of how your worlds began to drift apart, like ships pulled by the ceaseless tide. The effort to visit your world, Isse explains, became too great for most of his kind to bother, so they stay in their perfect, unchanging world.

All, of course, except the one sitting in front of you.

Once Isse becomes silent you can finally move again. It has barely been an hour since he began speaking, but it almost feels like you’ve been sitting there for days. Your joints ache and pop when you move them. You wince at a particularly nasty crack in your neck when you turn it.

“Oh. Sorry.” Isse’s ears flatten. One second your body is aching, the next all of your pain is gone. You blink, rubbing the place where your neck once felt stiff and sore.

“I forgot that happens.” Isse’s eyes darken, even when you flash him a smile. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been around humans.”

“Really? What did you just do?” You should be a bit annoyed at… whatever that just was, but you can’t find it in yourself to be angry. You’re more curious than anything, honestly. 

“It’s an… effect we have on humans, or as my kin would call them, lesser creatures.” Isse’s lips curl. “Certain things we do influences them somewhat. It’s like we can… charm them, I suppose you would call it.”

Charm them? Was that why you found him so attractive? Was he doing some kind of force-powers on you or something? You imagine Isse as Darth Vader with his fox ears poking through his helmet, and man you should be so angry at him right now but that mental image is so fucking funny you just can’t.

“I haven’t done that to you. N-Not at all.” His ears are so low on his head you can barely see them peeking out through his ears. “Except for just now, and I’m really-”

You cut him off. “Isse. I believe you. It’s fine. It was an accident.”

In your head you’re going through all of the conversations you had with Isse. When he… charmed you, you guess, you definitely noticed something was up after the fact. You definitely can’t remember any weird shit like that happening all of the other times you talked to him. Except, of course, you thinking he was really hot, which maybe is some kind of charming, but come on, he looks like that, who _wouldn’t_ be drooling over him-

“Ah. Okay.” Isse’s voice isn’t as perky as it usually is. Is it the charm that’s making you want to cuddle up next to him? Yeah, definitely a charm. Definitely.

“I mean… it kind of added to the story.” You settle for a quick pat on his shoulder. His ears stand straight up the second you touch him. “It was kind of cool, actually.”

Isse’s laugh is weak and soft, but it’s a laugh and you’ll take it. “Really? Cool?”

“Yeah. I mean, like I said, it was definitely an accident. I know you wouldn’t have done that on purpose.”

Those words seem weird when you hear them in the air. You’ve known him for all of two days and you already trust him like this? If he’s capable of charming you just by telling a story, what else could he be capable of? Could be manipulating you without you even knowing it somehow? 

You try to imagine Isse, cute, naive Isse, who stared in such naked wonder at your coffee machine, manipulating you. You can’t, you try to think of it and your brain just shorts out. He’s been nothing but sweet and kind, never pressing against the boundaries you’ve set for him, always asking you if everything is okay and giving you a way out if you wanted one...

Besides, you realize suddenly, if he really wanted something from you, he was probably powerful enough to just take it. 

So yes, you decided, you trusted him. Those words sat heavy on your heart, but not in a bad way. Thinking them made you warm, somehow, and you repeated them over and over in your head.

“Hey. Don’t look so down.” You give him another pat, and are delighted to see his tail twitching in response. “Want me to make you more coffee? I’d like to hear another story, but if you’re not in the mood we could just talk about something else.”

“I mean… I don’t know if I could do it without charming you again.” He muttered. For a second you could almost swear you saw his fox-form sitting on your bed for a second, so small and fragile as he curled up into a ball on your bed.

“As long as you don’t do anything weird while I’m under, I’m good.” Poor Isse turns as red as his hair, and you can’t help but feel just a little satisfied.

“I-I would never!” He sputters.

“It’s a joke, Isse, calm down.” You hop to your feet, grabbing his empty coffee mug off the table as you do. “You spirits have those, right?”

He grumbles something in reply that you can’t catch, but out of the corner of your eye you can definitely see his face light up with that smile of his.

Such a small, little thing, but it makes you feel so warm…

* * *

You wake up the next morning on top of your covers, wearing clothes instead of pajamas. When you ask Isse about it, he sheepishly replies that you fell asleep and he didn’t want to wake you up.

He has a warm pot of coffee ready for you when you finally shuffle out into the kitchen. For just a moment you think about how you could get used to this-

Then you stop yourself. He’s going to be gone at the end of the week. You aren’t going to marry him, spiritual or otherwise.The more you tell yourself that, the less you can somehow believe it.

Do you really want him to leave? You know that’s what you should want, after all. Yes, he’s a spirit, and yes, you’re really curious about him and the place he came from, but that’s all. He’s funny and cute and you like being with him, but that doesn’t mean anything. You don’t know this person, you repeat to yourself over and over whenever he teases a smile out of you or does something that makes your heart melt. You don’t know him at all. It was dangerous to be thinking of him like this. He can only stay if you marry him, and you can’t marry someone you’ve only known for a week.

Still, you’re going to do your best to make the most of the time you do have with him.

Instead of taking him back to your dorm after class, you decide to show him the world outside of your college… well, a little bit, anyway. He’s currently shivering in the passenger seat of your car, every single bump and groan coming from your beat-up old junker making his fur puff up like some kind of orange cotton ball. You had to spend a solid thirty minutes to get him to even set foot inside of your car, much less start the damn thing and start driving. You aren’t sure if spirits can get carsick, but if they could Isse was definitely on his way there.

“I’m sorry.” You repeat for what had to be the fiftieth time that day. “This is the only way we can get anywhere. If you want to see the city it’s either this or the bus and you would like the bus even less.”

You try not to show your frustration. You remind yourself how scary it must be for him. He’s trapped inside a strange metal box careening down the freeway with no control over where he’s going and how fast he’s moving. To you it’s normal, but to him it must be absolutely bonkers insane to put himself in such a position. 

He doesn’t respond to you, just cowers in place like a scared puppy. For a second you wonder if he would ease up if he was riding in your lap-

Nope. Not going there. When you pull up to a stoplight you try to find a better solution. You weren’t exactly sure if music would help or just make things worse so you aren’t playing any, but at this point you’re just fumbling for anything that might help him relax, honestly. You can’t help yourself, he just looks so goddamn small and helpless and it’s tearing at your heartstrings seeing him this upset.

Wordlessly you turn your stereo on. He fluffs up even more at the first warbled note, and you reach for the power button-

“What’s that?” Human Isse crouches in your seat, gaze fixed on your shitty car stereo. You bite back a request for him to put his seatbelt on. “Is that music?”

You breathe a sigh of relief. If human Isse is out, that has to be a good sign, right? “Yeah. It is. It’s connected to my phone-” You gesture to the phone in your cupholder. “And that connection allows it to play the music I have stored on there.”

Isse gives your phone a wide-eyed, reverent glance. “It can play music too? But I can’t see any instruments.”

You bite back a laugh. “No. It can’t play the music, it just stores recordings for me to play when I want.”

Isse takes a second to process, tail flicking from side to side. When the car begins to move again he flinches but remains in his human form. 

“It’s… strange.” He whispers. “So loud. So… odd. I can hear some instruments, but there’s something else in there.”

The first thing on your queue was something more electronic. Any music he’s heard in the human world, you supposed, was made with only the instruments and the voices of the people around him. It must be so weird, so unnatural sounding to hear music filtered through electricity and metal, sung by people who were long dead or far, far away…

“What do you think? I mean, if you don’t like it you can say so. I can find something else or turn it off if it’s bothering you.”

To your surprise you see him shaking his head out of the corner of your eye.

“Ah, no, that’s alright.” His voice is so low, barely a whisper. “I want to listen.”

For the rest of the car ride neither of you say a word. He doesn’t as much as blink, so completely and utterly transfixed by the music reverberating around you. You kind of wonder if you looked like that when he was talking to you last night, just wide-eyed and open mouthed and completely focused on nothing but him.

He only moves when you turn the stereo off. He shudders, like a jolt of electricity shot through him. He reverts to his fox form and hops into your waiting arms the second you open the door for him.

As cute as his fox form is, and as nice as it is to feel his soft little body cuddled against you, you find yourself wishing he had stayed in his human form for just a little longer.

“So.” You say to the ball of fur that’s currently nestled into your chest. This is the town square. It has a lot of places to eat, lots of clubs and places to hang out. I don’t know what you want to do, I mean we can walk around and check things out if you want.”

He bats his tail with your arms, a signal you’ve learned means he wants you to put him down. You hesitate for a second, worried about all of the people pressed around you and how easily you could lose him.

The moment his feet touch the ground human Isse appears. You mime tying your shoe, just in case anyone happened to catch you bending over for no reason-

“W-Wow.”

When you get back to your feet, you find Isse pressed close to you, like a child trying to hide behind their parents’ legs. He looks so small, so unsure, and you can’t help but wrap your arm around his.

He doesn’t respond to your touch, not even his ears move. He’s so focused on all the movement around him, all of the people walking by, all of the lights flashing and the noises blaring and the scents in the air.

“Do you want to look around? Or do you want to go back?”

Once again, for just a second you see his fox-form flicker in front of your eyes. When you look at him, you notice his eyes seem unfocused...

“N-No.” He finally whispers. “It’s fine.” He flashes his familiar, sweet smile. “You wanted to take me here, right? I want to see.”

You give his arm what you hope is a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t have to, you know. If it’s too much for you, we can go back.”

His body shudders. “No. It’s fine. Really. I want to see your world. Even if…”

Isse goes quiet. When you begin to walk he perks up a little, asking your questions about the things around you. Even so, he’s not as perky as he usually is. There are too many quiet moments, too many words you’re sure are going unspoken.

It bothers you more than it really should…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It wouldn't be a good romance without a little drama, right? Anyways, as usual hope you enjoy! I think the next couple of chapters are gonna be a bit more on the lewd side, so brace yourselves I guess :P. As usual if you have any thoughts/suggestions let me know in the comments, and as always have a wonderful day!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~rises from the grave like the zombie 2020 made of me`  
> Hey guys! Sorry it's been a minute! I've been busy with life/job/other personal projects, and my writing is a boom/bust cycle at the best of times anyways tbh. It may not be much, but I shall share this small offering as an apology. I do plan to finish this up hopefully in the next week or two, but no promises haha. I hope you all enjoy, as per usual, and thanks so much for the lovely comments/kudos! To the people who have read more than one of my works and liked them, y'all are crazy but I'm glad you exist.
> 
> Anyways, here's the next chapter, and thanks again! <3

The days slip by faster than you think they should.

Every minute the end of the week looms ever closer. It’s like a giant black shadow in your mind, growing larger and larger with every second that passes. In one week, this will all be over. This strange, wonderful thing that has entered your life will be gone, and you will be left with only memories. You wonder sometimes if Isse will leave anything behind. It’s a silly thought, and you always roll your eyes at yourself for thinking it, but every day that passes you think about it more and more. You would like something from him, you think, though you don’t know if you could work up the nerve to ask. Asking a spirit for something seems a lot like a wish, after all, and you know what Isse would require from you if you did that.

But would that really be such a big deal?

You have tried to take him to as many places as you could. You’ve gone to coffeehouses, street concerts, malls, museums, every exciting place that you can think of and can afford to go on a college student’s threadbare budget. 

You already miss his wide-eyed wonder whenever you take him somewhere new. You’re going to miss his laugh, his cheeky little remarks when he’s trying to get a rise out of you. More than that, though, you’re really going to miss his smile when he greets you in the morning. Already you catch yourself staring at his little nest on the couch and imagining how hard it’s going to be to put that away forever....

But this is how it has to be. As much as you like him, he can’t stay. It’s just too much. It sucks, but it’s better for it to be this way than have something awful happen to you later.

You’ve been having to tell yourself that more and more lately.

Your thoughts are distracting you from all of the papers sprawled across your desk. You’ve been pushing schoolwork to the side as much as you can, but your workload has gotten to the point where you can’t really ignore it anymore. Of course your professors had to be dicks and assign a bunch of important projects the week you have a handsome fox spirit hanging around. Talk about inconsiderate!

Isse, of course, has been watching your work the entire time. He’s currently in his fox form, curled up on a ball on your desk, chilling to the study playlist you’re playing through your phone. He pops into human form every so often to ask questions about what you’re doing, but mostly seems content to just doze off to the music and relax.

You’ve been moving around so much, trying to make every single moment count. You’ve apologized over and over for not being able to do anything today, but you still feel guilty. Tomorrow is his last day here. You should be doing something really special, not this.

Isse’s tail bats against your arm. You can see the ghost of his human smile playing on his lips. 

“Sheesh, I’ll get done as soon as I can, okay? You can’t rush greatness, Isse.”

He pops back into his human form. It’s almost a crime how gracefully his robe hangs on his body, in just the right way to show off the lines of his collarbone and the slope of his shoulder. Bastard is probably doing it on purpose-

“Ah. The greatness of-” He dips his head down to look at your paper- “ _ Mythology; The Stories That Make Us-” _

“Yeah, like I said, greatness.” You do find it kind of funny that a creature from said mythology is giving you shit on your paper. It’s like Shakespeare rising from the grave and telling you why your high-school level interpretation of  _ Hamlet _ is wrong or something.

“Hmm. You know, you could ask me for help if you’re struggling, you know. You  _ have  _ been working on that for quite awhile.” He rolls over on his back and God help you if you don’t want to rub his belly. “You could call me an authority on the subject.”

“Okay. What do you know about-”

A knock on your door. Shit. Your roommate.

“Uh, yeah?” You stumble to your feet, nearly tripping as you haul ass to your door. When you open your door, you are greeted by the smiling face of your roommate, Alyssa.

“Uh, sorry to bother you, but are you free tomorrow?” She asks. Her eyes drift to your room for a second, and it takes you a moment to realize that she’s looking to see who you were talking to.

“Maybe?” 

Just look her in the eye. Don’t blink. Assert dominance. You got this.

“Yeah, so, Charlee just hit me up and said she’s gonna throw a party or something tomorrow. I know you got a lot of shit to do this weekend, but I figured I’d ask anyway.”

You are about to say no, you do have a lot of shit you have to do, but then a sudden thought hits you. What better way to send Isse off than a college party? 

You’d have to ask Isse about it, he doesn’t tend to do well with crowds, you’ve discovered, and any party Charlee is throwing is going to be crowded as fuck, but you don’t have to stay forever. You could just take him, watch the chaos for a bit, then leave, like you’re going on a safari something. Then, you could leave, and....

And then what? Does he just… go? 

It’s like someone dropped a pile of bricks on you. There’s no more breath in your body. You can’t even as much as blink. Try as you might, you can’t think of anything else but the weight that’s been thrown on top of you.

_ Tomorrow. He’s really going to leave tomorrow. And I’m just going to let him- _

Alyssa’s voice snaps you back to reality. “Uh, you okay?” 

Fuck. You give your best attempt at a smile. You can almost feel it flaking off of your skin. “Y-Yeah. S-Sorry, this paper is an asshole.”

“God, what a fucking mood. Well, let me know if you’re coming, I guess.”

Alyssa heads back into her room. You’re alone in your living room. You should be heading back, you have so much work to do, but all of a sudden your legs are heavy stone. You can’t even muster the strength to shuffle over to the Mister Coffee.

Isse’s there, waiting for you. The second you think of his name the weight comes back a thousandfold.

It’s wrong, you feebly try to remind yourself, to be feeling this way about someone you barely know, much less a spirit. It’s stupid. It’s dangerous. The only way this ends is in pain and heartbreak. 

You almost convince yourself of that when you feel something at your feet. When you look down you see something small and red wrapped around your feet.

Somehow, through magic or through sheer stubbornness you don’t collapse into tears.

“H-Hey.” You force through clenched teeth. “You get bored of waiting for me or something?”

He gives you a very human roll of his eyes. Despite everything, it still makes you smile.

Human Isse appears in front of you in. “Ah, you know me so well.” His ears wiggle as he flashes his familiar half-smile. “Besides, it is rude to stay inside of a lady’s room without an invitation, you know.”

You drop your voice to a whisper. Your roommates are either out or working on projects of their own, but you aren’t taking any chances. The last thing you need is for someone to call an RA because they catch you talking to your ‘imaginary friend’ one too many times. 

“Oh no, I left you unattended in my room for all of three minutes, how scandalous.”

Thankfully, he seems to pick up the hint that you’re joking. He raises a hand to his mouth, eyes going comically wide. “Oh no! Hmm, as an apology for my uncouth and boorish actions, I’ll make you a cup of coffee.” He slides over to the coffee maker in a movement far too graceful for such a mundane action. “But I shall sample the first cup. Can’t risk giving you a subpar cup, can I?”

You’re about one hundred percent sure Issue could probably survive on coffee and sheer force of will alone if he had to. You picture him stranded on a desert island somewhere, happily roughing it with his trusty Mr, Coffee....

The smile falls from your face as you watch him. You pretend to browse your phone as he makes the cup, but your eyes aren’t reading the words on the screen. The weight around you seems a thousand times heavier.

_ Tomorrow. He’s not going to be here tomorrow. _

“One cup of coffee! It passed the taste test, I assure you.”

It’s such a simple thing to do for someone. Such a tiny, little thing. You’ve probably accepted dozens, if not hundreds, of cups of coffee over the years. All of them you’ve accepted with a smile.

The fucking coffee is what tips you over the edge. Well, not really the coffee, but him, really. He was so fucking happy to make it for you, so unrepentantly cheerful, so  _ genuine _ . 

All of the feelings you’ve been suppressing slam into you at once.

You accept the cup in your shaking hands. His smile, so wide and bright, falls immediately when he looks at your face. You can feel the hot tears flowing down them. You can feel the knot in your throat that tightens when you open your mouth to speak.

“T-Thanks.” You whisper. 

You want him to say something. You want him to be quiet. You want him to leave, you want him to stay. You wish this had never happened. You don’t know what you want.

No. You do. You just can’t have it.

He doesn’t follow you when you shut the door to your room. If he hears you sobbing into your pillow, he doesn’t come over to comfort you. It’s just you, alone in your room.

You love him. You fucking love him. You maybe loved him the first day you met him.

It’s stupid. It’s irrational. It’s all of the things you swore you’d never let yourself be, but that was the cold, hard truth. You could pretend otherwise all you wanted, but it didn’t make reality any less real.

_ I love him. I love him. I love him. _

Those words echo through your mind as you drift off to sleep...


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gasp! Me? Updating twice in one week!   
> So I know this one is a little short, but the next one is probably gonna be a Big Boi update, so I want to give y'all something to chew on while I knock that one out. I wasn't expecting this to be so soap-operay, or more than 4 chapters, but here we are regardless. I hope you enjoy this bite-sized snack!   
> As always, thanks for all of your lovely comments! And thanks for the people who kudo, bookmark, and just read without doing any of that too! I know I say that a lot but all of your support really means a lot <3.

It wasn’t a good morning, to say the least.

You’re aching and sore, a throbbing headache gnawing at your temples as you heave yourself out of your tangled covers. You’re having trouble keeping your eyes open as you shuffle through your morning routine. Part of you just wants to slide between the covers and stay there forever. Just forget everything. Just sleep.

If you do that, you won’t have to talk to Isse. You  _ know  _ he knows something’s wrong. The thought of walking out your door and having to face a barrage of questions makes you want to die. You cast a glance towards your bed. It’s so warm and invited, so soft and safe…

But then what? You just sit in bed? You just waste the last day you have with him? You just leave him alone in your room, make him think he did something wrong and it’s his fault you’re acting this way?

Thinking about that takes all the air from your lungs. You suck in a few, shaking breathes, but it doesn’t help. Fuck, you can’t. You have to do this. You have to be strong. You have to…

With a strength you didn’t know you had you throw on your clothes. You give yourself one last glance in the mirror, for reassurance, maybe. You look like absolute shit; you have huge bags under your eyes, your hair is a mess, and you can’t seem to muster even the most half-hearted of smiles at your reflection.

It’s okay, you try to tell yourself. It’s okay. Fuck you if your reflection really doesn’t seem to believe it, either.

You somehow muster the will to drag yourself out of your room. You have a shitton of morning classes, of course, but today you almost welcome them. It’s a distraction, at least, something to take your mind off off… off of…

He’s in his usual spot when you walk out of your door. Why wouldn’t he be? You almost don’t notice him at first, he’s buried under the pillows on your couch, only his little tail sticking out. Even in your dour mood it still makes you smile, for a second at least.

“Hey, good morning! Sucks to be us, huh?”

Shit. Alyssa. You completely forgot she also has morning classes too. She’s heating up some Hot Pockets in the microwave, like it's a completely normal morning and there’s not a fox chilling on your couch not ten feet away.

“O-Oh. Hey.” You fake a yawn, aware that she probably spotted you staring slack-jawed at the couch like a zombie. 

“You hear it might rain tonight? Sucks for the party too.” 

You see movement out of the corner of your eye. You focus squarely on Alyssa, hoping against hope that it’s just another one of your roommates shuffling over-

But it isn’t. Of course it isn’t.

“Y-Yeah. T-that’s awful.” Your mouth is suddenly very dry. You brace yourself, waiting for that all-too familiar feeling of fur wrapping around your leg-

Nothing comes. When you steal a glance over, he’s just… sitting on the couch, watching the two of you. You don’t have the time to really see his expression, but just the fact that he’s not coming over to greet you like he usually does…

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He has to know-

“Yeah. Whatever, though. God just doesn’t want us to have fun, I swear-” The beeping of the microwave mercifully delivers you from this conversation. While Alyssa is preoccupied with her Hot Pocket, you take the opportunity to shuffle over and grab some leftovers from the fridge. 

Isse usually follows you over. He would make a little chirp, and you would feed him a little piece of whatever you were eating-

Nothing. Nothing at all.

“Uh…” 

Someone gently taps your shoulder. Not Isse, but Alyssa is standing at your side. 

“Hey, maybe it’s none of business, but are you, uh, doing okay?”

Another movement out of the corner of your eye,

“Uh… what do you mean?” You swallow, hoping you don’t look as nervous as you feel. Shit, out of all of the times for Alyssa to be concerned about your well-being, why did it have to be now!

“Ah, it’s just… it’s been a busy week, that’s all.” Even to you your words don’t sound convincing. If Alyssa senses anything wrong, she doesn’t show it. At least that you can tell.

Honestly, for a second you want to say something. You don’t know what, Isse’s right there watching this whole conversation, but you need a release for this pressure that’s building inside of you. Maybe, if you do, everything will make sense and you can pick apart this tangled mess inside of your head-

“... okay. I don’t mean to be nosy or anything, I just… you know, actually, forget I said anything. Don’t worry about it.” She brushes by you, grabbing her Hot Pocket on the way out. “Hang in there, okay?”

Before you have time to say anything she’s out the door. It’s just you. And Isse, you guess, but he still isn’t saying anything. When you look over at the couch, he’s actually looking quite intently at your roommate’s fishtank.

It’s up to you to break the silence. But what do you even say?  _ Hey, I’m sorry for running off in the middle of tears after you gave me a nice cup of coffee, I’m actually more attached to you than I think I should be. _

That’s technically correct, but what then? He’s going to be leaving soon, because you’re not going to marry him, so all that would do was make you upset.

Besides, you’re not sure he even reciprocates anyways. That thought hits you a lot harder than it should. It’s like all of the breath in your body just left you. Yes, he’s friendly, yes, he’s cheeky and flirty, yes, he does seem to like physical contact and everything…

But he’s a spirit. You can’t even begin to know what’s going on in his head. Not to mention he’s been alive for thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years. You must seem like a bumbling child to him…

You blurt out the first thing that comes to your head. The pressure inside of you is building with every second of silence. You have to stop it, have to just get this over with, have to…

“H-Hey! Ready to go to class?”

His head snaps to you. For a second you think you see his human form flash in front of your eyes for just a second-

The fox daintily jumps down from the couch, sitting down in front of you rather than curling around your leg. The pressure swells again, and you feel an urge to ask what’s up with him today-

No. You can’t. That conversation also isn’t going anywhere. You don’t have enough time. You don’t have enough room in yourself for the weight that heartbreak would bring. 

At least when he’s in your bag, he can’t see you wiping away tears....

……………………………………………………………………………………………………....

Class is even more miserable than you thought it would be. For one, the rain decided to come early, not tonight like Alyssa said. It’s not even the nice, soothing kind of rain that you like falling asleep to. It’s cold and clinging, somehow able to soak through all of your clothes and turn your socks into frigid mush. It’s only gotten stronger as the day passes, and campus quickly turns into a grey, muddy mess. Everyone in your classes looks as miserable as you do as they pull soaked notebooks and damp textbooks out of their backpacks. 

You kind of thought Isse would keep his distance from you. You’re not sure if he’s trying to give you space, or just freaked out by your emotional breakdown over a cup of coffee, but to your surprise when you put him down he immediately curls up in your lap. You notice that he’s soaking wet just like the rest of you, his fluffy fur is clinging to his body and making him look like a drowned rat. 

“Oh. Geez, you’re soaking!” You try to dry him off with your jacket, but that only seems to be making him more wet somehow. He rewards you for your efforts with a dissatisfied huff.

Even your terrible mood somehow fades when you look at his cute face, scrunched up in a pout. Then, it returns tenfold when you remember he’s not going to be here tomorrow…

The best you can do is throw your jacket on him. You hope it keeps him warm, at least. Can he even feel warmth, or cold for that matter? You almost want to ask, but the pressure inside of you swells again…

Your professor starts her lecture. Her words slide over you like raindrops on your skin. All you can think of is him…

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! This is my current pet (heh) project at the moment. There will probably be sex later, hence the rating, but I plan on keeping the first few chapters pretty wholesome besides our lovely thirsty reader. I hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments/kudos/whatever if you feel so inclined. Hope you all have a great day and all of that jazz!


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